00:00To talk to Sean, to talk to Browns quarterback spot, 2026 and beyond, we head out to the
00:04Weishard Wright, we make it right, call Kyle Wright Hotline.
00:08Jeremy Fowler joins us now.
00:09Jeremy, welcome to the show, bud.
00:12Hey, thanks, guys.
00:13Appreciate you having me.
00:14Well, we appreciate you being able to join us here.
00:17We appreciate a little bit of insight here into the situation with Deshaun.
00:22I do, I think it's interesting because you cover a lot in the article with Daniel Oyefusi.
00:27So I'll just start with this question.
00:30Do you think Deshaun Watson is ready for all the elements, all it entails, to be the face of the
00:36Browns again?
00:39Right now, no, because he still has to show over time that he can move and plan and cut and
00:45throw
00:45and do all he needs to do on those injuries.
00:47You know, with back-to-back Achilles tears, that's a serious thing, I think.
00:51And talking to people with the story, people close to Deshaun, I feel like sitting out was the best thing
00:55for him.
00:56One, just to get healthy, and two, just to kind of reset his mental approach to the game, reset his
01:02physical approach.
01:03So I do think he will be ready.
01:06I just don't know if he's ready right now.
01:07He has to prove that he can be not only healthy but durable.
01:11Those are sort of two different things.
01:13I think he's pretty close to healthy right now, but to show he's durable is going to take some time.
01:18Yeah, and the piece you had, how he understands why the fans are frustrated.
01:21Of course, that's the source close to Deshaun Watson, not Deshaun himself.
01:24But I ask you this, Jeremy.
01:27Obviously, it's going to be hard for him to overcome a lot of fan perception.
01:32But do you get the sense, at least from the source you talked to, that they understand that Deshaun speaking
01:37himself
01:37and making himself available is probably better in the long term instead of just using sources, etc.?
01:45Well, that's a good question.
01:46I'm sure Deshaun will talk to the media eventually.
01:49I would imagine that the quarterbacks will be available at some point.
01:53I don't know what their schedule is, but he's going to have to address the media.
01:57You can only hide for so long.
01:59And then once you get into the season, there are protocols in place for that where obviously you can get
02:03fined if you don't talk.
02:04So, you know, the situation with me talking to people who can understand Deshaun's process or work closely with him,
02:12you know, that's not something that Deshaun was setting up for manufacturing.
02:16That was just me trying to seek answers into where he's at, what can he do, why is he getting
02:24this second chance,
02:26where the Browns are with it, where Deshaun might be with it.
02:29But, you know, I kind of just wondered out loud that is this a quarterback that's going to be a
02:34little bitter
02:35based on getting booed before, not always being welcome because of obvious reasons.
02:40You have the off-field stuff and you have the poor play and you have the injuries.
02:43I was told no, that there's really no bitterness there.
02:45And he's likely his experience in Cleveland.
02:48He had a better relationship with Kevin Stefanski than some might think.
02:52It just wasn't quite an offensive scheme fit where Todd Munkin's offense offers a little more there
02:58as far as spread offense concepts, the ability to move around, read and react.
03:05You know, I think he's probably at his best when he's improvising a little bit,
03:09which at this stage in his career, I don't know how much of that he can do.
03:12So that's where when the real bullets are flying in the season, if he is the starter,
03:16he's going to have to answer that.
03:17Does he still have the talent and the ability to create and to be an artist there a little bit,
03:23which I think was when he was at his best in Houston, when he could do some of that,
03:28improvising with DeAndre Hopkins and some of his weapons.
03:30So he's got to prove that he still has that ability.
03:33Jeremy Fowler of ESPN on the Weishard, Right? We Make It Right call, Kyle Wright hotline.
03:38So you mentioned in the piece, Munkin has said repeatedly that if he could,
03:43he would like to have the quarterback situation resolved heading into camp,
03:48it does seem like there's a lot of Deshaun momentum from going back to, you know,
03:53the first voluntary mini camps before the NFL draft.
03:57Does it, from everything you're, everybody you're talking to,
04:00does it still feel like Shador has a legitimate chance to win this job?
04:04Or are we just kind of soft launch in Deshaun right now?
04:10You know, the truth, or at least my read on it, is it's probably somewhere in the middle.
04:15It kind of feels like a little bit of a soft launch,
04:17but I don't necessarily think the Browns are planting seeds there.
04:20I think they're just, this is how it's developing.
04:23And you have a veteran in the building who's played a lot of football
04:26and has once upon a time played at a high level.
04:28For a first-year coach, that can be attractive.
04:32You know, that can be helpful.
04:32So, at the same time, you know, the people I talked to in the building leading up to
04:37when the story ran said, we've barely done anything, you know.
04:41Like, it's early May.
04:42Well, now mid to late May, but there's a lot that has to play out.
04:47Days like today are important because you're getting reps among four quarterbacks,
04:51and it looks like they were doing dual fields,
04:53which is kind of what they did in training camp last year.
04:56What do they call it?
04:57Two-person run, or they have a name for it.
04:59So, they're out there doing that, and I think in the next couple weeks,
05:04Todd Munkin will have at least a better idea of where he might be leaning.
05:08It's just that Deshaun, with the credentials and the way he has responded to the Achilles injury
05:14and seems to be in a good place mentally and physically, would give him the edge.
05:18You know, I think in the simplest form, Deshaun is a more qualified quarterback
05:23than Shador Sanders at this stage.
05:24But that doesn't mean Shador can't take the job over the next weeks and months.
05:29Yeah, also on your piece, you had the source close to Watson saying the quarterback is focused solely
05:32on the upcoming season, but he's not again staying in Cleveland beyond 2026 if things go well.
05:37I'll just ask you, what do you think that looks like?
05:41What is going well for Deshaun, where we go back to the table
05:43and Haslam opens up his wallet once again?
05:49Well, I still have a hard time seeing that, just considering how much transition the Browns have been in.
05:55Now, look, you never know.
05:56If he goes out and gets the starting job, does this piece-by-piece, can provide some steady quarterback play,
06:02then who knows, you know.
06:04But what you've paid him already, I have a hard time seeing the Browns wanting to do anything close to
06:10that deal again.
06:11And so that would complicate matters.
06:14And, yeah, I don't think the Browns have gone into this saying he's going to be a one-and-done
06:18regardless.
06:20They just want to see how it goes.
06:21And it's kind of a remarriage, you know, that has to develop.
06:26And it's really – it's been a four-year process.
06:29It didn't go well.
06:30But now you can almost look at it, and he can almost look at it as a one-year contract
06:34or one-year pack to reset his career.
06:37I think it's on his radar, and probably smartly so, that there have been a lot of quarterbacks
06:43that had to reset their career and have to go somewhere else to be successful.
06:49Baker Mayfield, obviously, in Cleveland was one.
06:52Sam Darnold, Geno Smith, Daniel Jones, you know, he can probably look at this in a similar fashion.
06:57Maybe this is a springboard to something else or another job in free agency.
07:01So, I don't know.
07:03It's really – this is really more about writing a big swing and miss, as Jimmy Haslam called it,
07:08just trying to make right of it, trying to salvage the trade a little bit.
07:12And for Watson, really just reestablish himself as a steady quarterback, like a viable starter,
07:17more so than what he was.
07:19You know, it's sort of a reincarnation in that way.
07:21I just have – I'm not there yet.
07:23I have a hard time seeing, you know, the Browns wanting to do some great deal with Deshaun Watson in
07:282027.
07:28I think they just want to see if he can step onto a field.
07:32Jeremy, Vegas says the Browns are a six-and-a-half-win team.
07:36They did attack their weaknesses from last year in free agency in the draft.
07:41Do you think the Browns have enough to surprise the NFL if they just get something potable
07:48out of the quarterback position this year?
07:52I would lean yes because there's talent on the roster.
07:56We knew there was talent defensively.
07:58We knew coming out of last year that there were deficiencies on offense.
08:01I do feel like they've addressed those.
08:03You know, they still maybe need an alpha receiver.
08:06You know, it was pretty clear coming out of the draft that they felt like Jerry Judy can still be
08:10that,
08:11despite last year's uneven play.
08:13And, you know, they surround him with some young players.
08:15I mean, Casey Concepcion was really coveted in that mid-late first-round range,
08:20or a lot of teams liked him.
08:21So, he's got to be high on, can make an instant impact.
08:26Denzel Boston, too, has the size and speed to kind of bully people downfield a little bit.
08:30So, you know, they can run the ball, or at least they've proven that in the past.
08:35And now you have a totally revamped offensive line.
08:37That has to come together.
08:38You know, that's not a slam dunk.
08:39But you have some intriguing pieces on a line that was really struggling in the last year
08:43and went into the offseason.
08:45It was kind of a mess on paper.
08:46So, the issues at hand, they address them.
08:48If you can just get passable quarterback play and run the ball a little bit,
08:53you might have something.
08:54So, I think six wins, six and a half wins is probably about right as we sit here in mid
08:58to late May.
08:59But I'm optimistic that they could kick that up a little bit.
09:02I don't sense this is a total year two rebuilding phase.
09:07You know, I think they have a chance to win a little bit here.
09:09And the division's wide open.
09:11Jeremy, Todd Munkin said today that Myles Garrett, he still hasn't met him yet.
09:15But Myles not there at OTAs today.
09:17Are you going to be paying attention June 2nd or so to any chatter around Myles Garrett?
09:22Or do you feel like he's going to be here this year and we can just put that to bed
09:26and not even worry about it?
09:29I'm operating as if that's put to bed and he's not traded.
09:33You know, the Browns are a value-based team.
09:36So, if they get great value for Myles Garrett, I can see it.
09:39But I don't know what Andrew Barry said publicly about whether he's closed the door or not or if it's
09:45been vague or whatever.
09:46I don't know offhand.
09:48But I would be shocked if they traded him based on all the indications I've gotten.
09:53You know, they're still all in on him.
09:54He's the best player in the league probably of any position right now.
09:58So, they know that.
09:59Unless there's some sort of silent protest he's going through right now, but he's 14 months removed from a mega
10:06deal he received.
10:06I would be very surprised.
10:08All right, Jeremy.
10:09One before you go, because you wrote a great piece about six days ago on the quarterback carousel.
10:15So, he's kind of talking about the 2027 NFL offseason.
10:18The last two quarterback carousels have stunk.
10:21I don't think I'm breaking news here, buddy.
10:24But you kind of paint this world in which we could have a supercharged quarterback carousel over the next two
10:29years.
10:30Do you think that is more likely than not to be the case, that we're actually going to get back
10:35to the NFL quarterback carousel we're used to?
10:40Yeah, I would say people around the league I've talked to are cautiously optimistic.
10:43They believe it could be a good class.
10:45It should be a better class than the last two.
10:47That's for sure.
10:48But it's probably not quite as good as that 2024 class.
10:54And all those guys are going to be able to get paid next year.
10:56You've got Caleb Williams, Drake May, Jaden Daniels, Bo Nix, you know, Michael Pinnock and J.J. McCarthy.
11:01The jury's still out.
11:02But really good class.
11:03Six first-round picks in the first 12 selections.
11:06That was a fun draft for that reason.
11:08So, it'd be exciting to get something like that again.
11:11I don't know if it's going to be that good, but the over-under is like three first-round picks,
11:14I would say.
11:15You just give a lot of intriguing talents, some of which have proven a little bit but struggled at times.
11:21You know, Arch Manning and Lenora Sellers out of South Carolina would go to mine there.
11:26You've got some risers like Notre Dame, C.J. Carr.
11:29It's an intriguing class.
11:30There is a lot of talent, but they have to get it done.
11:33Like, we've seen a year-in, year-out where some guys are supposed to be first-round picks
11:37and they end up going to the fifth round because of the last college year they had,
11:41where then you have Joe Burrow and Jaden Daniels, guys like that, that are one-year wonders.
11:45But they're prolific in those one-years and they parlay it into being a top pick.
11:49So, it can go a lot of different ways.
11:51Jeremy, great stuff as always, Mike.
11:53I really appreciate you giving us some time here.
11:55I know we're starting to get into the NFL offseason, so we appreciate you.
11:58Thank you so much.
12:00Hey, thanks, guys.
12:01Have a good one.
12:02You too.
12:02Jeremy Fowler there on the Wise Heart Right.
12:04We Make It Right.
12:05Call Kyle Right Hotline.
12:06We Make It Right.
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